New Delhi: New corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines for public sector companies emphasize on ethics and sustainability rather than on financing external projects, according to a draft paper posted on the department of public enterprises’ (DPE) website....

▶ What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? This video clip tries to give competent but also entertaining answers to this question. The video is part of series "in a little green bag" at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland.

What is the UN Global Compact? “ The Global Compact asks companies to embrace universal principles and to partner with the United Nations. It has grown to become a critical platform for the UN to engage effectively with enlightened global business.”– UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

HuffPost Green, March 05, 2015 -▶ THIS IS WHAT HUMANITY'S IMPACT ON THE PLANET LOOKS LIKE. A new photo book from conservation experts aims to shine a light on humanity's impact on the planet and convince people to think about their contribution. Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot includes photos and essays exploring man's complicated relationship with the planet.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/human-impact-on-planet-photos_n_6784080.html

Mongabay, January 25, 2015-▶ NEW REPORT: WORLD MUST CHANGE MODEL OF ECONOMIC GROWTH TO AVERT ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER

Ethical Corporation, August 20, 2014▶ IS ETHICS THE SAVIOUR OF BRANDING?In order to retain credibility, branding needs ethics at its heart Branding as we know it today is dying. These aren’t just whispers from the fringe but discussions in mainstream journals ranging f...http://www.ethicalcorp.com/business-strategy/ethics-saviour-branding

ANIMATED VIDEO - ALSTON GROUP

"WHAT IS CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY?"

Published on Jun 13, 2013

Are you familiar with the term 'corporate social responsibility'? This concept relates to how growth can be achieved in a responsible way by people, businesses and governments. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes into account increased populations and scarce resources to ensure that global development is sustainable. Three central pillars of economic progress, social justice and environmental protection now form the basis of how businesses interact and support communities...http://www.alstom.com/Sustainability/animated-series-on-csr/

▶ OUR INDUSTRIAL, WESTERN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM IS DESTROYING THE EARTH AND OUR HEALTHhttp://sco.lt/63qRl3

EcoWatch, February 22, 2014

-▶ STOP FEEDING THE BEAST AND START FEEDING THE PEOPLE. We have a system of predatory agriculture in which corporations pursue private gain relentlessly regardless of the social consequences. Social consequences can be defined as anything from polluting our water, land and air to impacting the health of our families to making the business of farming economically unsustainable.http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/22/stop-feeding-beast-start-feeding-people/

Naked Capitalism, December 28, 2014 -▶ DON QUIONES: HOW THE TRADE IN SERVICES AGREEMENT LETS BIG BROTHER GO GLOBAL. If signed, the treaty would affect all services ranging from electronic transactions and data flow, to veterinary and architecture services. It would almost certainly open the floodgates to the final wave of privatization of public services, including the provision of healthcare, education and water. Meanwhile, already privatized companies would be prevented from a re-transfer to the public sector by a so-called barring “ratchet clause” – even if the privatization failed. http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/12/don-quijones-trade-services-agreement-lets-big-brother-go-global.html

Corporate Europe Observatory, November 29, 2014-▶ TRADING AWAY DEMOCRACY: COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC AND TRADE AGREEMENT (CETA) WITH CANADAThe EU's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada could unleash a wave of corporate lawsuits against Canada, the EU and its member states – including through the Canadian subsidiaries of US multinational corporations. This is the result of an in-depth analysis of CETA’s investor rights by Corporate Europe Observatory and 14 other environmental NGOs, citizens’ groups and workers unions from both sides of the Atlantic published today. http://corporateeurope.org/international-trade/2014/11/ceta-trading-away-democracy

Common Dream, April 22, 2014-▶ CORPORATE COLONIALISM: PROTESTERS SLAM TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP. These secretive trade pacts are really about resurrecting global U.S. military power and economic dominance http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/22-3

Corporate Europe Observatory, October 4, 2013-▶ TRUTHS AND MYTHS: "A BRAVE NEW TRANS ATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP" - THE SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENT CONSEQUENCES.A new report published by members of the Seattle to Brussels Network (S2B), including CEO, which reveals the true human and environmental costs of the proposed EU-US trade deal

Asia Times Online, September 27, 2013-▶ TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP IS A TROJAN HORSEThe TPP is a Trojan horse, branded as a "free trade" agreement, but having nothing to do with fair and equitable treatment. In reality, it is precisely "a wish list of the 1% - a worldwide corporate power". [8] "Only 5 of its 29 chapters cover traditional trade matters, like tariffs or quotas." [9] "The other chapters enshrine new rights and privileges for major corporations while weakening the power of nation states to oppose them." [10]http://atimes.com/atimes/Japan/JAP-02-270913.html

-▶ MASSIVE LAND GRABBING BY MULTINATIONAL FIRMS PREVALENT IN UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES AND WILL GET WORSE WITH TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIPLawmakers in the Philippines are pushing for amendments to the 1987 Constitution to allow 100 percent foreign ownership of land. This is reportedly a condition set on the Philippine government before being accepted to the TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (TPPA), a trade pact being organized by the US government.- See more at: http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/22386#sthash.xl4kiTPB.dpuf

The Real News, September 15, 2013-▶ PHILIPPINE ACTIVISTS FIGHT BACK AGAINST CORPORATE AND MILITARY FORCES DESTROYING THEIR LAND, FORESTS AND LIVELIHOODS. Corporate agri-businesses like U.S.-based Dole, Del Monte, Monsanto, along with international and Philippine mines, are polluting waterways and destroying the surrounding farms. Chinese, European, Canadian, and Filipino mines are stripping away the mountains to get at what some estimate to be the largest iron deposit in the world. There also some of the most significant gold, nickel, and copper reserves in Asia.http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10725

National Business Report, April 21, 2015▶ POTREPRENEURS : CASHING IN ON WEED: POTBOTICS Meshing science, tech, weed and robotics . 2014 alone, marijuana brought in about $2.7 billion to states that have legalized it, whether medicinally, recreationally or both. The projection for 2015 is $3.5 billion, according to Arcview Group, a cannabis investment fund that tracks industry numbers.http://nbr.com/2015/04/21/marijuana-start-ups-industry-grows-new-entrepreneurs/

They're Making Millions▶ MARIJUANA REAL ESTATE: Here's How To Turn A High Profit▶ CRAFT BREWERY OF CANNABIS - Who Tests and Extracts Marijuana?▶ FROM ROBOTICS TO REAL ESTATE -The Big Bucks Behind Bud▶ FROM KALE TO CANNABIS: The Future of Marijuana Farminghttp://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000373113

ABC Australia presents a short documentary concerning the advancements of legalized marijuana in America with a focus on corporate interests in the burgeoning mainstream pot industry.http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/cannabis-inc/

Times-Standard Online, November 30, 2013▶ PESTICIDE-LADEN POT: THE DANGERS OF LURKING CONTAMINANTS AND PESTICIDES WITH COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEMS. Humboldt State University, Jeffrey Raber said a recent study he conducted found that up to 70 percent of the pesticides found on a marijuana bud can transfer to the smoke being inhaled.."It's much like injecting it directly into your blood stream.”...

VIDEO REPORT Newshour PBS, April 09, 2014▶ IS POT GETTING MORE POTENT? THE TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF MARIJUANA.The average potency of pot has more than tripled in the past two decades, according to testing done for the federal government. The two main species of the Cannabis plant, Cannabis indica and Cannibas sativa, produce different kinds of highs.Indica is described as having a calming, relaxing, and narcotic effect, while sativa is said to have a more uplifting, stimulating, or “cerebral” effect.http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/pot-getting-potent/

"Wonder Why Marijuana Laws Are Passing So Quickly Across the USA and the World. It's Not For Your Health. And It's Not About the Drug Wars. It's about the repeat of ending "prohibition" and restructuring wealth. Big politics and "Legal" Money is involved here to capture, control and profit from this new market. The Cartels and Multi-National Corporations Have Control of a global agricultural Industry, already in place: from owning the land, to growing the crops, patenting new genetically engineered seeds, owning the pesticides and marketing .. and we're right back to toxic smoking and ill-health. Nothing new here."

This article speaks about how Colorado, particularly Denver, believes that there will be a marijuana shortage now that marijuana has been legalized. This article goes into depth about how there will be a shortage in the short run, but eventually the supply and demand should come to an equilibrium.

▶ MULTI-NATIONAL FAST FOOD COMPANIES: MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. FAST FOOD WORKERS ON PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, REPORT SAYS

More than half of families of fast food workers receive some sort of public assistance, costing the nation $7 billion a year, according to a new report distributed by a group that has been pushing for union representation and higher wages for fast food workers...

The report calculates that about $3.9 billion a year is spent on Medicaid and children’s healthcare for fast food workers and their families. Families also receive $1.04 billion in food stamp benefits and $1.91 billion from the federal government through the earned income tax credit. Even those workers who are on a 40-hour-a-week schedule receive benefits; more than half of those families are enrolled in public assistance programs, the report says....http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-fast-food-minimum-wage-20131014,0,1971900.story

WATCH SUPER-SIZING WELFARE COSTS Democracy Now, October 18, 2013▶ LOW WAGES AT McDONALD'S, BURGER KING COST TAXPAYERS BILLIONS. New research shows more than half of low-wage workers at fast-food restaurants rely on public assistance to survive – a rate double that of the overall workforce. According to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, low wages in the fast-food industry cost American taxpayers nearly $7 billion every year – that’s more than the entire annual budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A companion report by the National Employment Law Project found McDonald’s alone costs Americans $1.2 billion annually by paying its workers insufficient wages. Last year the top 10 largest fast-food companies alone made more than $7.4 billion in profits.http://www.democracynow.org/2013/10/18/super_sizing_welfare_costs_low_wages

If you thought debtors prison was something straight out of Charles Dickens—and something long ago left behind us—think again. Debtors prison is becoming very much a part of the American prison-industrial complex.http://sco.lt/68dlAX

Inter Press Service, October 9, 2013▶ WALKING AN ECONOMIC TIGHTROPE WITH NO SAFETY NETUNITED NATIONS. With the richest one percent of the population now owning 40 percent of global assets, and the bottom half sharing just one percent, inequality is fast being recognised as a stubborn underlying obstacle to development.http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/walking-an-economic-tightrope-with-no-safety-net/

-▶ CLIMATE CHANGE AND INEQUALITY IS BREWING GLOBAL SOCIAL UPHEAVAL - WORLD BANK CHIEF. President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, is warning that the combined crises of planetary climate change and rising global inequality in a highly interconnected world will lead to the rise of widespread upheaval as the world's poor rise up and clashes over access to clean water and affordable food result in increased violence and political conflict. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/04

Guardian Sustainable Business, January 19, 2015 ▶ DAVOS 2015 : 'IT IS PROFITABLE TO LET THE WORLD GO TO HELL'

The Economic Times, January 20, 2015-▶ INDIA PM, NARENDRA MODI, CALLS FOR A "PARADIGM SHIFT" IN GLOBAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS CLIMATE CHANGE, URGES NATIONS OF HIGH SOLAR POWER POTENTIAL TO JOIN HANDS. This would help poorer nations to provide low-cost clean energy to their citizens without being arm-twisted by the developed world who have been closely guarding their patented cutting-edge technology. The change of attitude which India pitched for seeks a shift from "carbon credit" through emission cuts (mitigation) to "green credit" through adopting energy efficient measures and investment in renewable sector (solar, wind and biomass) in a big way.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/environment/pollution/narendra-modi-calls-for-a-shift-in-global-attitude-to-meet-climate-goals/articleshow/45948075.cms

Center for American Progress, December 22, 2014 -▶FOSSIL-FUEL INDUSTRY SPENT BIG TO SET ANTI-ENVIRONMENT AGENDA FOR THE 2015 U.S. CONGRESS : A legislative rider that was quietly attached to a major defense funding bill earlier this month marked a watershed change in the political fortunes of the coal, oil, and gas industries and their return to power in Washington, D.C. The rider—which turns the Bull Mountains in Montana over to a Koch-connected, Houston-based company to be strip mined for coal—is the fossil-fuel industry’s first major payoff from a three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar investment to secure Republican control of Congress and to set the stage for a pro-coal, pro-drilling, and anti-environment agenda in 2015

Triple Pundit, December 12, 2014 -▶ REPORT REVEALS DIFFERENCES IN GDP AND INCLUSIVE WEALTH.Conventional economic theory is rife with assumptions that not only paint a narrow, inaccurate and vastly oversimplified view of the future prospects and actual overall impacts of investment decisions, but also justify investments that, over the long-term, can drive societies over the proverbial cliff. ... http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/12/2014-report-reveals-startling-differences-gdp-inclusive-wealth/

Corporations are NOT required by law to put stockholder profits first before the greater good of society. Financial historian Richard Sylla and award-winning financial editor Paul Steiger discuss how companies have become fixated on short-term stock prices to the exclusion of broader, long-term goals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-S2SwfWF3s

Inter Press Service, December 12, 2014 -▶ WANT ECONOMIC GROWTH? LESSEN INEQUALITY. For years, many policy makers, including economists, have clung to the belief that if states do nothing to boost income equality, market forces will cause wealth to trickle down to the poorest citizens and contribute to overall growth. That theory is now being increasingly debunked as experts affirm that the broadening gap in income is creating far-ranging problems for many societies.http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/12/want-economic-growth-lessen-inequality/

United Nations News Centre, February 05, 2015-▶ UN SEC.GEN BAN : DEVELOPMENT MUST BE BUILT ON INCLUSIVE POLICY ALIGNED WITH PEOPLE'S NEEDS, ASPIRATIONS : Mr. Ban said that policymakers in the past had focused too much on economic growth, without taking into account social concerns or environmental factors...economic growth must be judged in terms of its impact on human well-being – rather than an end in itself... not just the quantity, but the quality of growth.” http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=50005#.VNO_9p3F9Q0

New York Times, April 04, 2015-▶ CALIFORNIA DROUGHT TESTS HISTORY OF ENDLESS GROWTHhttp://sco.lt/4rmrQn

CNBC News, November 20, 2014▶ OBESITY AS A BUSINESS: HOW MUCH OBESITY IS COSTING US. INVESTORS SEE GENEROUS PROFITS IN OBESITY EPIDEMIC

The annual global bill for obesity for lost productivity and treating conditions like diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers is $2 trillion. That’s nearly as much as the $2.1 trillion smoking or war and conflict costs the global economy, a group of analysts at the McKinsey Global Research Institute concluded. http://www.cnbc.com/id/102203044

The Ecologist, October 06, 2014▶ EXTREME INEQUALITY: The massive concentration of economic resources in the hands of a few people presents a significant threat to democracy and well being...the richest 85 people in the world had the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population: over 3 billion people. http://www.theecologist.org/magazine/features/2583990/extreme_inequality.html

Our politicians are hung up on keeping the growth curve rising. But does GDP really tell us all we need to know about a country's wealth and well-being? In this new RSA Short, Kate Raworth makes a powerful argument to look beyond economic growth alone for a true measure of prosperity and progress. Kate Raworth is a renegade economist teaching at Oxford University, and is focused on the rewriting of economics to make it a fit tool for addressing the 21st century's social and ecological challenges. She blogs on Doughnut Economics athttp://www.kateraworth.com and tweets @KateRaworth

Ensia, December 11, 2014▶ BUILDING THE NEW ENVIRONMENTALISM : Markets that pursue wanton growth and profit at any cost and systematically fail to recognize environmental costs, fostering destruction of a living system all life depends on, cannot survive. We must build a new economy. And to do that, we must build a new politics.

With the planet already exceeding its sustainable carrying capacity, we should be reducing our demands on it – not adding new ones. Simply put, we can no longer depend on GDP growth, and the limitless wealth accumulation that it implies, to solve our social and economic problems.

▶ WHICH GREEN ECONOMY? Current debates about how we measure growth and prosperity will have enormous ramifications for global trade, production and consumption patterns. The various perspectives broadly agree the current economic model is unsustainable on a planet that has finite resources and limits. http://whygreeneconomy.org/which-green-economy/

InterPress Service, November 28, 2014 ▶ IS THE IDEA OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON A FALSE CONSENSUS. The idea of sustainable development is based on a false consensus. Once this term and its underlying situations are properly deconstructed, Demaria tells IPS, “we discover that sustainable development is still all about development. And that is where the problem lies.”http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/11/down-with-sustainable-development-long-live-convivial-degrowth/

▶ THE STATE OF MARYLAND'S -- "GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR"Maryland developed its Genuine Progress Indicator to measure how development activities impact long-term prosperity, both positively and negatively. Here in Maryland and across the globe, people are continually challenged by the need to find a balance between advancing economic gain and ensuring social well-being... http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/mdgpi/

Indeed, it's not enough to call the dollar value of what you're people are buying and selling "wealth".

Where are the environmental factors that will cost us money due to the loss of economic activity (thanks to weather and climatic difficulties)? Where are the markers for well being and other aspects of human happiness?

Capitalism is going to kill itself off, regardless of what anyone does to try to save it in its present form. The death has already happened, just as the roots of death are in anything that we may develop. Either things will be eclipsed by better things, or else, they'll collapse into worse things that we'll have to dig our way out of.

I'd rather have things go the former way, rather than the latter. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a say about how we achieve that.

Eco-civilization: China's blueprint for a new era, provides international readers with an overview of key policy guidelines and priorities the country’s new leadership will adopt, focusing on its pioneering low carbon ‘eco-civilization’ concept, which will have a profound impact on China’s future economy. This is the first time that eco-civilization has been elevated to such a high-level, not only in parallel with, but also cutting across economic, political, cultural, and social systems. http://www.theclimategroup.org/_assets/files/China-Ecocivilisation.pdf

HuffingtonPost (Reuters) April 15, 2014

▶ CHINA TO PRIORITIZE ENVIRONMENT OVER ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT Smog-hit China is set to pass a new law that would give Beijing more powers to shut polluting factories and punish officials, and even place protected regions off-limits to industrial development. While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks. ..http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/15/china-expected-to-elevate-environment_n_5150010.html

UNEP April 22, 2015 ESTABLISHING CHINA'S GREEN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

REPORT OF THE GREEN FINANCE TASK FORCE

The report is the outcome of a Green Finance Task Force which was tasked to develop policy, regulatory and market-innovations to better align China's financial system with the needs of green industry and sustainable development. The report recommends the development of financial institutions specialized in green lending and investment. http://www.unep.org/NewsCentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=26802&ArticleID=34981&l=en

The Guardian, January 07, 2015-▶ CHINA ENCOURAGES ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS TO SUE POLLUTERS.Groups that work to fight polluters judicially will gain special status and have court fees reduced, Supreme People’s Court says

Triple Pundit, November 13, 2014▶ CHINA'S 20% RENEWABLES COMMITMENT A CHALLENGE TO U.S. UTILITIES, China’s massive commitment to renewable energy will create economies of scale that will shatter current price levels around the world. Its success will bring to scale the technologies and processes required to integrate renewable energy into an electrical grid. China is on a path that will push the U.S. electric utility industry over a renewable energy cliff.http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/11/chinas-20-renewable-energy-commitment-challenges-u-s-electric-utility-industry/

New Scientist, December 16, 2014-▶ "GREAT GREEN WALL" HELPS CHINA TACKLE DESERTIFICATION: China has planted a "Great Green Wall" of trees across the north of the country in a bid to prevent the spread of the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts -- and the strategy appears to be working. "Vegetation has improved and dust storms have decreased significantly in the Great Green Wall region, compared with other areas," says Minghong Tan of Beijing's Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429994.900-great-wall-of-trees-keeps-chinas-deserts-at-bay.html#.VJA1WsaHenj

Earth Policy Institute, June 16, 2014▶ SOLAR POWER: CHINA LEADS WORLD TO SOLAR POWER RECORD IN 2013 In the last two years, countries around the world have added almost as much new solar photovoltaics (PV) capacity as had been added since the invention of the solar cell. Nearly 38,000 megawatts of PV came online in 2013, a new annual record. In all, the world’s installed PV generating capacity is now close to 140,000 megawatts—enough to power each home in Germany. Falling costs and effective policies continue to drive tremendous growth in solar power. http://www.earth-policy.org/indicators/C47/solar_power_2014

This series is about the generation that has inherited the waste, and a few members of that generation who are openly and actively trying to change the trajectory of the country to avoid disaster. Toronto Star,http://projects.thestar.com/chinas-generation-green/

Guardian Environment, December 20, 2014▶ 10 THING TO KNOW ABOUT CHINA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE ENVIRONMENT. New book argues Chinese firms’ presence in Latin America focuses on the most environmentally-damaging sectors

FastCoExist, August 26, 2014▶ IN BEIJING YOU CAN PAY FOR TRAIN RIDES WITH PLASTIC BOTTLES. Across the world, there are many ways to encourage recycling. Tax breaks, virtual points, deposit payments--there's no shortage of ideas. Recently, we even came across a machine in Istanbul that gives out dog food in return for a bottle or two. Beijing is now taking its own approach by giving free train rides and mobile phone top-ups to people redeeming used plastic. Machines in 34 locations take bottle deposits and calculate their worth, issuing a credit to the person's mobile account or transit pass. Sensors scan the bottle's weight and composition, then prompt users to choose their option.http://www.fastcoexist.com/3034720/in-beijing-you-can-pay-for-train-rides-with-plastic-bottles

Treehugger, March 08, 2014 -▶ BUILDING A BUBBLE-like BIOME IN BEIJING COULD LET RESIDENTS BREATHE CLEAN AIR. Beijing's notorious air pollution has reached beyond hazardous levels in recent years, with the city covered in thick, toxic smog for a good part of the year. While the Chinese government has implemented various pollution-battling policies like car bans and the planting of green roofs, others like London-based design firm Orproject have gone down the road of more extreme design measures -- suggesting the building of bubble-like biomes, sealed from outside pollution, that would allow residents to actually breathe clean air.http://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/beijing-bubbles-biome-clean-air-orproject.html

Ag Professional, August 01, 2014 -▶ CHINA ADOPTS STRICTER PESTICIDE RESIDUE STANDARD.The new standard includes 3,650 indices detailing the maximum allowable residue for 387 pesticides on 284 types of food, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which jointly issued the standard. Compared with the current standard that took effect in 2012, the new standard contains 1,357 new indices covering 65 new pesticides and 43 new types of food.The standard covers vegetables, fruits, grain, edible oil, sugar, soft drinks, nuts, eggs and meat. It includes juice and preserved fruits for the first time.http://www.agprofessional.com/news/China-adopts-stricter-pesticide-residue-standard-269591991.html

Come April of 2015 China is ready to set a new law that gives Beijing more power against factories that are polluting the environment. This new law will allow them to punish business officials and place protected regions off-limits to industrial development. This new law states that the environment is a priority and will give the power to environmental enforcers to “veto” production in the industries until they have met their targets. They are also looking to eliminate the punishment of maximum fine as companies will pay this fine and still continue on with their same procedures.

I think that it is important for people to see a CSR program within their government and I feel that it is too strongly geared towards strictly corporations. We have seen in some cases such as the United States where ultimately the corporations run the show but the government needs to take responsibility as they have put themselves in the position to take care of the people and they need to live up to it.

I believe that getting rid of the fine penalty will be very beneficial for Beijing, you see too many cases where through a cost/benefit analysis companies will chose to take the risk of a maximum fine as they will still make more profit. An alternate solution such as a shutdown of the company whether it is permanent or temporary will be a greater threat and result in a greater desired outcome and better cooperation

"Guardianship is a word that rings out in my head. We are meant to be guardians and trustees of this planet. For me, and for many others, the collective goal of humanity is towards the stewardship of our people, the planet and our ecosystems. We have a duty to protect and enhance our communities and ecosystems for the betterment of future generations"...Nicole Tilde

Earth Justice, August 11, 2014▶ THE CLEANUP BUCK SHOULD STOP WITH POLLUTERS:Earthjustice is challenging the EPA’s 30-year-long failure to require that polluters pay for the cleanup of their own messes, rather than stick taxpayers with the often-hefty bill... https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2#inbox/147e3f44615e9d70

Corporations are NOT required by law to put stockholder profits first before the greater good of society. Financial historian Richard Sylla and award-winning financial editor Paul Steiger discuss how companies have become fixated on short-term stock prices to the exclusion of broader, long-term goals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-S2SwfWF3s

▶ MODERN SLAVERY WILL CONTINUE IF CORPORATIONS KEEP PASSING THE BUCK: THE SUPPLY CHAINhttp://sco.lt/87TMnJ

OnEarthMagazine, February04, 2015▶ CLOTHES HAVE AN ECOLOGICAL PRICE TAG, TOO: OUR TOXIC SUPPLY CHAIN. The companies that make and sell most of the world’s clothing insist they want to operate without endangering workers, polluting waterways, or using toxic chemicals. But clean practices can be a hard sell.http://www.onearth.org/magazine/trying-sustainability

"WALLS AND THE TIGER" - DocumentaryRampant consumerism divides the world. People in the West get cheap fashion and cutting-edge electronics at a fraction of the real cost. People in developing countries pay the hidden price. Farmers and fishermen in sustainable communities are relocated to slums. Fertile farmland is turned into industrial parks. Oceans are poisoned by chemical waste. All of this will be illustrated through stunning images in the film. By understanding the interdependency of our consumption and the rest of the world, we hope to inspire change in our audience.http://www.ejolt.org/2014/10/walls-and-the-tiger/

WATCH "INSIDE THE GARBAGE OF THE WORLD" (80 min)We're living on a beautiful planet and as a human race we've been here for thousands of years. Our planet didn't need to be protected; life was flourishing on its own, with its own agenda. However for the past 100 years we've made a tremendous impact with our footprint due to the growth of world population and the industrialization of our everyday life. Economy, profit and capitalization became more important than respecting our planet and an ancient knowledge to advance a new way of life.http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/inside-garbage-world/

It is crazy to see the costs of the pollution and impacts of big companies that are having an impact on the environment around them put into a dollar value. It really gives a better view ti the picture. Hearing that in 2009 alone the damages exceeded the worth of $7 trillion. That is a giant amount of damage that is being done to the world we live in. The article states that a great deal of companies would not be able to continue making a profit if they stopped making the damages. This is very sad.

This article gives insight about what kind of trouble our generations have gotten us into throughout the years and some of the damage done is irreversible. It emphasizes the importance yet struggle to improve how we do things that impact around us. With the discussion we had in class regarding the increase in population and what will happen in 2050; this will have a huge influence in the future. Becoming more sustainable should be a top priority for the world to approach together.

“Here is this vast, savage, howling mother of ours, Nature, lying all around, with such beauty, and such affection for her children, as the leopard; and yet we are so early weaned from her breast to society, to that culture which is exclusively an interaction of man on man.” Henry David Thoreau

Treehugger, February 26, 2015- ▶ 'LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS" IS A MUST-READ FOR PARENTS AND EDUCATORS.Kids are developing more problems than ever (think obesity, technology addiction, adolescent depression, suicide, etc.), all of which Louv connects to nature deficit disorder. Spending more time outdoors could help resolve many of these issues, but this can happen only if kids are allowed greater access to nature. That’s where parents and policies come into play http://www.treehugger.com/culture/last-child-woods-must-read-all-parents-and-educators.html

- ▶ IF CHILDREN LOSE CONTACT WITH NATURE THEY WON'T FIGHT FOR IT. With half of their time spent at screens, the next generation will be poorly equipped to defend the natural world from harm...

... While the surveys show that the great majority would like to see the living planet protected, few are prepared to take action. This, I think, reflects a second environmental crisis: the removal of children from the natural world. The young people we might have expected to lead the defence of nature have less and less to do with it... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/19/children-lose-contact-with-nature

Mother Nature Network, March 25, 2015- ▶ EXPERIENCING NATURE MAKES US MORE LIKELY TO SAVE IT.A new study took a look at this relationship and found that we might have a kinder, gentler society if we all just spent a little more time outside.

Children In Nature Collaborative▶ LOOKING TOWARDS THAT MAGICAL MOMENT. A 69 percent decrease in time spent in outdoor activities and games on days off from school. These concerns and others related to children’s lack of connection to the natural world are part of a complex picture. Despite the extraordinary efforts of the movement, time spent outdoors by children across the globe continues to decline at an alarming ratehttp://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5098ae2bbd84a5038da2a0128&id=1766599b45&e=82fb31e8b3

Scholastic.com- ▶ WHY KIDS NEED NATURE. When a child is out in nature, all the senses get activated. He/She is immersed in something bigger than themselves, rather than focusing narrowly on one thing, such as a computer screen. They're seeing, hearing, touching, even tasting. Out in nature, a child's brain has the chance to rejuvenate, so the next time he has to focus and pay attention, perhaps in school, he'll do better.http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/parent-child/why-kids-need-nature

TribLIVE, August 02, 2014 - ▶ MORE PEOPLE AFRAID OF OUTDOOR - DISCONNECT WITH NATURE BLAMED.Once upon a time, children grew up playing outside: fishing the local creek, riding their bikes or building forts in the woods. But that's not the norm anymore...“You've kind of got a whole generation now that's isolated. They didn't grow up playing outside... http://triblive.com/sports/outdoors/6519595-74/outdoors-outside-baker

documents innovative outdoor-education programs around the country created to help children understand and experience the wonders and joys of nature. The film explores the immediate and lasting benefits of introducing young children to "green" experiences. Natural spaces - in the form of gardens, small trails and outdoor "green adventure" areas - allow for the discoveries and choices vital to child development and learning. In addition, outdoor education can cultivate in children a permanent connection with the natural world - a crucial ethic of environmental responsibility.http://vimeo.com/channels/371945/30186232/77981721

-▶ CLASSROOMS THAT GROW FOOD. The SEED classroom is a place for children to learn and think about sustainability (SEED itself standing for Sustainable Education Every Day). Each 900 sq ft (84 sq m) building catches rainwater to be used in the sinks and basins, from which water is intercepted once again, and filtered through a "living wall" of edible plants. The classroom's energy is provided by rooftop solar power http://www.gizmag.com/seed-classroom/27763/

Guardian, February 12, 2014 - ▶ TEN REASONS WHY WE NEED MORE CONTACT WITH NATURE. It improves your memory, helps you recuperate and even makes your sense of smell more acute. So turn off your computer and get outside

And here we meet the other great loss. Most of those I know who fight for nature are people who spent their childhoods immersed in it.

Without a feel for the texture and function of the natural world, without an intensity of engagement almost impossible in the absence of early experience, people will not devote their lives to its protection. The fact that at least half the published articles on ash dieback have been illustrated with photos of beeches, sycamores or oaks seems to me to be highly suggestive.

Forest Schools, Outward Bound, Woodcraft Folk, the John Muir Award, the Campaign for Adventure, Natural Connections, family nature clubs and many others are trying to bring children and the natural world back together. But all of them are fighting forces which, if they cannot be turned, will strip the living planet of the wonder and delight, of the ecstasy – in the true sense of that word – that for millennia have drawn children into the wilds.

The subject of children being disasociated with nature needs to be address, so we can change the trend and empower the chidren with skills and passion. ..."So where are the marches, the occupations, the urgent demands for change? While the surveys show that the great majority would like to see the living planet protected, few are prepared to take action. This, I think, reflects a second environmental crisis: the removal of children from the natural world. The young people we might have expected to lead the defence of nature have less and less to do with it."+++++

RETURN OF THE DEBTORS' PRISON? MANY STILL JAILED FOR INABILITY TO PAY FINES. Cities across the country are increasingly turning to what are known as private probation companies to collect unpaid fines. But are indigent people ending up in jail because they can't afford to pay? Since NewsHour Weekend's first story on this issue aired last spring, the Childersburg Municipal Court issued a “standing order” stating that “In no case shall an indigent defendant be incarcerated … based solely on his or her inability to pay fines.” But the practice continues elsewhere in the country. Special correspondent John Carlos Frey takes an in-depth look at what some are calling the return of the debtors' prison. Continue reading http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/return-debtors-prison/

-▶ A MODERN-DAY DEBTORS PRISON? JUDGES PUSH BACK AGAINST THE SOUTH' PRIVATIZATION WAVE: In Southern states, small-town courts have outsourced probation management to for-profit companies charging fees out of reach to the country's poorest residents. Many people end up in jail for nonpayment. These judges want private companies out of their courts. PRIVATIZING PROBATION AND PROFITING FROM POVERTY http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/a-modern-day-debtors-prison

Old Debts, Fresh Pain: Weak Laws Offer Debtors Little ProtectionCritics say the 1968 federal law that allows collectors to take 25 percent of debtors’ wages, or every penny in their bank accounts, is out of date and overly harsh. More » http://www.propublica.org/series/unforgiven

Truthdig, December 22, 2013-▶ FOOD BEHIND BARS ISN'T FIT FOR YOUR DOG - LOCKING UP POOR PEOPLE IN CORPORATE AMERICA IS BOOMING"Aramark, often contracted to provide food to prisoners at about a dollar a meal, is one of numerous corporations, from phone companies to construction firms, that have found our grotesque system of mass incarceration to be very profitable."http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/food_behind_bars_isnt_fit_for_your_dog_2013122

February 11, 2015 Local jails, which exist in nearly every town and city in America, are built to hold people deemed too dangerous to release pending trial or at high risk of flight. This, however, is no longer primarily what jails do or whom they hold, as people too poor to post bail languish there and racial disparities disproportionately impact communities of color. http://www.vera.org/pubs/special/incarcerations-front-door-misuse-jails-america

Since the industrial revolution, human activities haven’t usually followed cycles. Instead, they have been based on extraction, followed by manufacturing, use and disposal: the ‘take – make – use – discard’ linear process. Natural systems can cope with this up to a point without being unduly perturbed. Unfortunately, with so many people driving the use of so many resources and the production of so much waste, we have now affected many natural cycles and the consequences are far reaching. It is true that over the last 25 years or so, there has been a trend towards recycling and reuse, although this was often driven initially by the need to reduce waste going to landfill. The circular economy approach takes this a lot further. By ignoring natural cycles rather than working with them, we are warming the planet, reducing biodiversity and could threaten the ability of humans to have a high quality of life. In case you think this is just the view of someone with a professional environmental interest, you might want to take a look at what the MoD strategic outlook up to 2045. has to say about the environment.

Look closely at the challenges facing our world and the circular economy makes business sense. Companies are turning to a new model of sustainable business in an effort to reduce their dependence on finite resources...

The sense that our planet is running out of the minerals, metals and organic matter required to sustain its rising human population has helped to fashion a new concept for our times: the circular economy. At its core is the argument that the old, linear model of conducting business – extraction, consumption and waste – is past its sell-by date...http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/circular-economy-new-way-doing-business

-▶ THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS: HOW A NEW BUSINESS ERA INSPIRED BY NATURE, NOT GREED, CAN BENEFIT US ALLhttp://sco.lt/97vmc5

January 17, 2013 YES Magazine

-▶ RELIGION, SCIENCE AND SPIRIT: A SACRED STORY OF OUR TIME.Humanity’s current behavior threatens Earth’s capacity to support life and relegates more than a billion people to lives of destitutionhttp://sco.lt/8rb8DZ

Zero Footprint requires a circular economy, where all outputs must be accounted for as inputs elsewhere in the economy, where the entire lifecycle of all products is factored in, where 100% of waste becomes raw resources, powered by 100% renewable energy.

VIDEO REPORT Newshour, March 28, 2015CUTTING THE CABLE CORD: WILL THE ONLINE MEDIA BOOM MEAN THE DEATH OF TV?Younger viewers, so-called millennials form a growing class of cord-nevers, rejecting the cost of a monthly cable bill, they’ve turned instead to broadband, high-speed internet connections and a range of streaming video services to watch what they want, where they want, when they want. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/cutting-cable-cord-web-based-media-mean-death-tv-2/

NPR, January 03, 2015-▶ A YOUNG GENERATION SEES GREENER PASTURES IN AGRICULTURE. It's a generation that has grown up in the digital age, but embraced some very old-school things: the farmers market, craft beer, artisan cheese. "Living in the city, you commute by subway, you buy your food at the supermarket, you work in a cubicle all day...You're not intimately tied to anything." Gelvosa and Gerritsen are part of a generation for whom global warming has been hanging overhead like the sword of Damocles. In fact, all the young farmers interviewed for this story mentioned environmental health and climate change as factors in choosing a life on the land.

Nature is not a drag on growth – its protection is an unavoidable prerequisite for sustaining economic development.

The value of the carbon capture services which could be gained through halving the deforestation rate by 2030 is around $3.7 trillion

One of the greatest misconceptions of our time is the idea that there is somehow a choice between economic development and sustaining nature. ...environmental goals need to be scaled back to promote more growth. The reality we inhabit is somewhat different, however. One hundred per cent of economic activity is dependent on the services and benefits provided by nature... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/jan/09/economy-nature

THE BIOSPHERE: NATURE IS ALL WE HAVE. Imagine an economic community in which nobody could list the stakeholders or identify those about to default. Or try to set a value on a reference library that has catalogued only a fraction of its archive, and some of that wrongly. Think of a reserve bank with most of its ledgers missing. Humankind is in that kind of predicament: it depends almost entirely on natural capital to generate food and fibre, building materials, fuel and pharmaceuticals, to pollinate crops, filter drinking water, recycle waste and maintain the oxygen supply. Living things underwrite all national economies: money, in effect, really does grow on trees.

Taxonomists identify around 18,000 new species each year, but in the same 12 months a greater number may slip into oblivion, as humans raze forests, pave or plough grasslands, bulldoze hillsides, drain swamps and dredge estuaries.Each extinction represents an asset lost or an opportunity squandered. Yet the human impact on the planetary ecosystem is now so palpable that geologists have proposed a new chronological era, the anthropocene, and biologists already call this "the sixth great extinction".

NEW SHORT VIDEOS Guardian Environment, October 06, 2014Nature has been around for more than 4.5 billion years, evolving and adjusting to whatever the universe throws at it. People, on the other hand, are very fragile and entirely dependent on what nature provides.

One of the greatest misconceptions of our time is the idea that there is somehow a choice between economic development and sustaining nature. ...environmental goals need to be scaled back to promote more growth.

Mother Nature Network, March 25, 2015- ▶ EXPERIENCING NATURE MAKES US MORE LIKELY TO SAVE IT.A new study took a look at this relationship and found that we might have a kinder, gentler society if we all just spent a little more time outside.

Harvard Gazette, December 24, 2014- ▶NATURE AND WELL BEING : A KEY URBAN PLANNING INTERSECTION Is there a dose of nature that can help make city dwellers’ lives healthier and more productive? Research suggests that the answer is yes, but also that the issue is more complex than that simple formulation. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/12/a-key-urban-intersection/

NASA Earth Observatory- ▶ BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY. Like it or not, throughout this century, the United States has undergone a steady process of urbanization as a larger and larger percentage of the population has moved towards the cities. Unlike rural communities, urban sprawl completely transforms the landscape and the soil and alters the surrounding ecosystem and the climate.http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Lights/

- ▶ RESEARCH CONFIRMS FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT GREEN SPACE DOES IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.

The new study compared the mental well-being of hundreds of people in the UK who moved from a grey urban setting to a greener area to those who moved in the opposite direction.The results revealed that those surrounded by nature felt happier and more content for many years.

OutsideOnline, September 25, 2014STUDY: HIKING MAKES YOU HAPPIER.British and American scientists have published new research showing that group nature walks help us combat stress while boosting mental well-being

The WILD Foundation also recently launched the WILD Cities Project, which it describes as “a new concept of urbanism where wild nature is highly valued and its conservation is a conscious part of human life in cities worldwide” [3]. Goals of the WILD Cities Project include identifying successful urban initiatives aligned with the principles of Nature Needs Half, formulating criteria for defining a WILD city, and developing strategies to communicate to the public the need for nature in our cities.http://wild10.org/en/program/the-global-foru/working-coalitions/wild-cities

Public perception of wildlife tends to be tied to natural habitats such as forests, ocean and other wild settings. However, cities can provide habitat for many animals and plants. In the largest global assessment of urban biodiversity to date, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, researchers examined the biodiversity of urban areas and found that cities are home to a surprising number of species. The study underlines the conservation importance of preserving and creating green spaces when it comes to urban planning.Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0411-levikov-cities-biodiversity.html#fBOegyyVwsoUc3Vf.99

- ▶ THE GREEN LEAP: CAN WE CONSTRUCT URBAN COMMUNITIES THAT CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY?

Why are green developments different? The goals are conservation while providing a unique living experience. Biodiversity, however, often is lower on the totem pole of priorities.

For the first time in our history, more people live in urban vs. rural areas and humans continue to move into cities. Cities have huge impacts on our natural resources. Urban dwellers consume vast amounts of energy, produce waste, and alter landscapes to the point where native plant and animal populations decline precipitously. As cities grow, people have pondered -- can we develop land without destroying our natural heritage?.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-hostetler/the-green-leap-can-we-con_b_1314981.html

-▶ THE BIGGEST EVER FINES FOR A COAL COMPANYthat violated its water pollution permits: Alpha Natural Resources, which is based in Virginia, and 66 of its subsidiaries.: 6,000 violations, violations over 300 state-issued permits, hundreds of streams, tributaries and rivers, 79 active coal mines, 25 coal processing plants, where they put the coal and wash it before it’s shipped, over five Appalachian states. So it’s a pretty massive coverage area for the settlement. Twenty-seven-and-a-half million dollars in fines, $200 million for the cleanup, in the range of penalty, how does this rank?http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/coal-producer-pay-hundreds-of-millions-water-pollution/

- ▶ HOW CORPORATE LOBBYISTS CONQUERED AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. One has to go back to the Gilded Age to find business in such a dominant political position in American politics.

Something is out of balance in Washington. Corporations now spend about $2.6 billion a year on reported lobbying expenditures—more than the $2 billion we spend to fund the House ($1.18 billion) and Senate ($860 million). It’s a gap that has been widening since corporate lobbying began to regularly exceed the combined House-Senate budget in the early 2000s. Today, the biggest companies have upwards of 100 lobbyists representing them, allowing them to be everywhere, all the time. For every dollar spent on lobbying by labor unions and public-interest groups together, large corporations and their associations now spend $34. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 consistently represent business.

Sometimes stories in the news can make you wonder who is really pulling the strings. This 10-minute video exposes the role corporate lobby groups have in EU decision-making – who they are, how they get what they want, and how they affect you, and others like you all over Europe, from the food on your plate, to rules for bankers, to the chemicals allowed in everyday products. Watch, learn, and share!http://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2014/11/ceo-video-corporate-lobby-tour

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security."~ Albert Einstein

Guardian Sustainable Business, January 08, 2013

-▶ HOW A SENSE OF SACRED CAN HELP SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS - RESTORING VALUES. Sustainability leaders could learn from Buddhist Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, who believes in a deeper human connection with Mother Earth...

"If nothing is sacred, most of all nature, then we create the potential for the perfect kind of storm, to which it will be virtually impossible to adapt, let alone mitigate." He hits the nail on the head; we are not going to save ourselves and countless species from destruction with innovations in technology and business thinking alone, unless we heal our profound disconnection with Mother Earth.http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/sense-sacred-sustainable-business-buddhist

InterPress Service, November 28, 2014▶ IS THE IDEA OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON A FALSE CONSENSUS. The term sustainable development rapidly gained wide-scale acceptance, with the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development just one of the many (inter)governmental or top-down bodies that have set up in the past three decades to include environmental goals in planning and policy.. The idea of sustainable development is based on a false consensus. Once this term and its underlying situations are properly deconstructed, Demaria tells IPS, “we discover that sustainable development is still all about development. And that is where the problem lies.”http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/11/down-with-sustainable-development-long-live-convivial-degrowth/

-▶ FINANCIALIZING NATURE COULD BANKRUPT US ALL. OLD ECONOMICS OR SUSTAINING POLICY? http://sco.lt/8fNIET

SHORT TED VIDEO 3:34FRANS LANTING: PHOTOS THAT GIVE VOICE TO THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. Nature photographer Frans Lanting uses vibrant images to take us deep into the animal world. In this short, visual talk he calls for us to reconnect with other earthly creatures, and to shed the metaphorical skins that separate us from each otherhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F8-jp_6Uqg

IC Magazine, December 09, 2014 -▶ ARIZONA DEFENDERS FACE IMMINENT LAND GRAB OF SACRED LANDS BY FOREIGN MINING COMPANIES.Congress is set to approve the giveaway of 2,400 acres of National Forest lands, including the burial, ceremonial and medicinal lands of the San Carlos Apaches, to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of British-Australian Rio Tinto Mining Corp., a company with a long history of environmental and human rights abuses in developing countries.https://intercontinentalcry.org/arizona-defenders-face-imminent-land-grab-26496/

SHORT TED VIDEO 3:34FRANS LANTING: PHOTOS THAT GIVE VOICE TO THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.Nature photographer Frans Lanting uses vibrant images to take us deep into the animal world. In this short, visual talk he calls for us to reconnect with other earthly creatures, and to shed the metaphorical skins that separate us from each other https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F8-jp_6Uqg

"Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that a greater intellectual knowledge of the impact of our destructive behaviour, or of nature's wonders, will not create the change that is necessary and that only a deeper connection to our hearts and a personal insight into the inter-being of everything in the universe, can offer hope to humanity."

It makes good business sense for companies to actively pursue an ethical supply chain. Philanthropy to worthy third parties is not enough.

The Guardian's painstaking investigation into the Thai seafood sector and the US state department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report have offered arresting revelations in recent days. Not only have shrimp supply chains worldwide proved to be tainted by forced labour on Thai vessels and on soil. These reports show how businesses of all kinds are sullied by slavery – yielding $150bn in profit each year, according to the International Labour Organisation.

Many people suppose that most trafficking is for sexual exploitation (as in Thailand's own sex trade). Yet 68% of victims are exploited for labour – like in the violent seafood-processing facility in Samut Sakhon that several young Burmese women in a Thai shelter vividly described to me when I was the US anti-trafficking envoy.

And many executives assume that tracing labour conditions in their supply chains is futile and prohibitively costly. Yet if the Guardian can do it, the business community surely can – and must.

To abolish today's slavery, businesses must actively be part of the solution. Philanthropy to worthy anti-trafficking organisations is not as important as businesses living by the equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath – at least do no harm.